If you're happy and you know it

This month we celebrate International Day of Happiness, and all over the globe people are instagramming and tweeting the things that make them smile.

For the most part, people in Australia love their jobs – but we all have those days when clocking off can’t come fast enough. On those days, you don’t have to settle for anything less than a working environment Pharrell Williams himself would approve of.

Here are some of our favourite tips on how you can find and create more happiness at work:

Celebrate your successes. Feeling good about your work will help you stay in the zone and increase your overall happiness, so give yourself – and your teammates – a well-deserved high-five when you’ve nailed it on your latest project. Did you make a client’s day or surpass a customer’s expectations? Small things are worth celebrating as much as big achievements, so keep a do to list and tick off those tasks as you go. Acknowledging every little success can add up to big feelings of satisfaction.

Move it. Go for a walk on your lunch break, or enlist your co-workers to join you in taking a daily dance break and crank some feel-good beats on the stereo. Getting away from your desk or worksite for a short time and moving your body will release feel-good endorphins, which can increase happiness in a snap.

Pay it forward. Share the love and compliment your colleagues on their efforts. Paying someone else a compliment can make you feel great, and can help to encourage an overall happier working environment. Make a concerted effort for a week and see how it goes – chances are, you’ll have compliments coming back to you in no time.

Have a life outside of work. Remember when your high school career counsellor encouraged you to be ‘well-rounded’? Well, it turns out they were right – but not just because it makes for a more interesting resume. Having interests outside of your job that get you excited about the weekend can increase your overall happiness, encouraging you to be more upbeat and satisfied during work hours. Need more convincing? Indulging your passion for creative pursuits can help you think more laterally, which can translate to outside the box thinking when you’re back at work.

Smile. Even when you’re stressed or frustrated, the physical act of smiling has been proven to trick your brain into making you feel happier. It might feel a little forced at first, but encourage yourself to smile at your colleagues as you encounter them, and for no reason at all. Smiling is infectious, so the more you show those pearly whites, the more of a lift you’ll notice in the overall mood of your teammates.